Buying a DVD Player. Help Needed.

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cool.aquarian

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Hi,

I need to buy a DVD Player for my recent 32" Sony LCD (with Full HD support).

Requirements are:

1. I would mostly be playing Dual/Single-Layer movie DVD's and DivX/Xvid/mkv movies (from internet) through USB.

2. Should be region-free (or atleast a region-free hack should be easily available).

3. Support for external subtitles(.srt,.sub) in USB Drive would be a bonus.

4. Any sort of copy(ripping) option from DVD/CD to USB would be a bonus.

5. Would prefer it to leave-out most of the upscaling work to Bravia Engine.

6. HDMI or Component out (not sure which to go for).

7. Budget < 5000Rs.

I have no idea about DVD Players market competition.

My search began within these typical brands Sony, Samsung and LG.

But when I enquired some multibrand/unibrand showrooms, most of the multibrand salesmen were suggesting/pushing me to buy Philips or LG. Following were their points:

- Sony: costly+ wont play all DVD's (either scratched ones, or *ahem* P.ones),no DivX support for USB.

- Samsung: no idea, but no one suggested to go for these.

- LG: DVD o/p Looked ok, plays all types of DVD, has 1 year onsite support but could not check out USB supported formats and output clarity. HDMI cable to be bought seperately.

- Philips: Very popular among people as per salesmen with no problems reported by owners and plays every crap DVD. USB was able to play just mpg and divx(no support for mkv).clarity was ok. HDMI cable comes with Player itself. But not sure about warranty clause. One salesman said 6 months warranty, whereas other said 1 year warranty.

- Onida: Saw at one showroom. was just ok.

Please help me to decide upon a particular brand and output option with your knowledge and experience.

Would Component o/p be ok or should I go for HDMI. How much would be the differrence in picture quality specific to my LCD and DVD Players planned usage.

Btw my LCD has 2 component inputs and 4 HDMI inputs(all free for signal input).
 
In stead of going for DVD player..why don't you go for Western Digital Player/Xreamer/Asus o'Player...DVD players are getting outdated....
 
Konquerror said:
In stead of going for DVD player..why don't you go for Western Digital Player/Xreamer/Asus o'Player...DVD players are getting outdated....
Click to expand...

The simple reason he is going for a DVD player is that they are very cheap and can play most file formats. Most of the media players are a bit pricey.

@cool.aquarian I myself am looking to buy a DVD player. I have read a few reviews on Techtree. But the problem with those reviews is that those are mostly from 2008 or max March 2009. They have not reviewed DVD players recently.

It seems as if the Philips DVD players can play more file formats. But even the Philips players dont support .mkv or m2ts formats.
If you have to play those formats, I suggest you buy the Seagate FreeAgent GO Media Player. I read a review of it today on Tech2. Check out the review, it is on the 1st page itself. It can play a lot of formats and can upscale the videos as well.
But the downside of this player is its price. Its MRP is Rs.9.5k.
 
Konquerror said:
In stead of going for DVD player..why don't you go for Western Digital Player/Xreamer/Asus o'Player...DVD players are getting outdated....
Click to expand...

Yea, I read about them.

I feel that such devices still need to be more reliable, stable and easily accessible(read available) among customers to be accepted by masses.

Also I believe they dont have CD/DVD R/RW drive. Are there any alternatives in this case? It is really needed for me to play DVD's.
 
I would suggest Pioneer. They are as cheap and will read anything, no matter how scratched.

Dont buy Sony/LG. Normally tend to suck
 
i have bought this one recently.

one advantage of this model is that both the remotes (tv and this, both sony) work on each other for volumes. this little feature may not be for everyone, but i really appreciate it. it has the 3 features i were interested in - usb, divx/xvid and 5.1.

(plays dual layer, but doesnt rip i guess)

and then, for a little bit more, there are home theatres. excellent ones by philips for around 9k-12k, one of which rips, not sure which one.
 
After more research, I have zeroed in on the following ones (These are latest models in Pioneer/Philips from among huge number of outdated/old ones floating on the internet):

Pioneer: DV-420V-K, DV-220V-K

Philips: DVP3388/94, DVP3368/94.

Now I need to dig into their tech specs to know differences among these

(All support HDMI and USB divx playback, and difference is not very clear from their website).

Any comments/advice would be great.
 
nitant said:
I would suggest Pioneer. They are as cheap and will read anything, no matter how scratched.

Dont buy Sony/LG. Normally tend to suck
Click to expand...

Pioneer aside, LGs DVD players offer real good value as far features go and are very reliable.

So try not to make such blunt comments, without any validation.

cool.aquarian said:
After more research, I have zeroed in on the following ones (These are latest models in Pioneer/Philips from among huge number of outdated/old ones floating on the internet):

Pioneer: DV-420V-K, DV-220V-K

Philips: DVP3388/94, DVP3368/94.

Now I need to dig into their tech specs to know differences among these

(All support HDMI and USB divx playback, and difference is not very clear from their website).

Any comments/advice would be great.
Click to expand...

Have you confirmed the local availability of the Pioneer players you mentioned?

Between, the two Philips players, the DVP3388/94 looks like a good deal (minor differences)
 
thetoxicmind said:
Have you confirmed the local availability of the Pioneer players you mentioned?

Between, the two Philips players, the DVP3388/94 looks like a good deal (minor differences)
Click to expand...

Not checked the availability physically yet, but came to know that Pioneer has opened a new Center recently in Gurgaon. Will check there and other places.

What are the [minor] differences between the two Philips models ?
From the specs(attached), one major difference it says that the lower model only supports PAL (no NTSC). Is this a typo or is NTSC not that important?
Other differences are in Picture and Sound quality, DTS, WMV Support, Composite and Optical port.

The difference b/w the two Pioneer models are just WMV,MP4 support and S-Video port.
 

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@cool.aquarian

I am with you :) I am also looking for something similar to your taste.

Did you check out LG DV388 - Has USB & & HDMI , Supports 5.1...

I am more inclined towards WD HD Media player, you can mod the player & connect external DVD ROM so it can play any damn format (mkv, m2ts) & from DVD too.
 
You people are a bit late. The DVD is all set to retire. Buying a player now is not a good idea. Buying a good DVD player is definitely not a good idea. I was at my local mall on sunday and there was an offer. A DVD player named "passion" was being retailed for 1099/-. Now that's dirt cheap and my accompanying friend bought it right away. It had a six month warranty. It that dvd player works for 1 yr, i believe it's good investment because most players(even the expensive one's) lens tend to weaken after some time.

I would advise you to buy a WD HD TV. Ask a friend in usa to buy it because there you can buy it for less than $100. I think with a little tweak, you can attach a dvd writer to it also.
 
Stay away form LG DVD Players. 10-12 of my friends buy LG & need Replace Lens withing 2 yrs. Mine too requires to replace Lens, while I hardly seen 15-18 movies in 2 yrs.

LG is really VFM- Cheap Value Cheap Quality :)

Go with Philips :)
 
broadway said:
I would advise you to buy a WD HD TV. Ask a friend in usa to buy it because there you can buy it for less than $100. I think with a little tweak, you can attach a dvd writer to it also.
Click to expand...

A little off-topic, but...

How would you compare just connecting the notebook/laptop display output to the LCD TV,

and playing videos in whatever format we want(mkv, mov, wmv,asf,etc) instead of buying WD HDTV (esp when the notebook native resolution is high like 1400x900) ?

Only downside I can think of is connecting the wires each time I want to view video on LCD.

Like my notebook has DVI output, so would only need a cheap DVI-to-HDMI converter to be able to view all the video formats that can play in Laptop on LCD as well.

Isn't this a convenient and cheaper option instead of WD HD TV (till Blueray becomes mainstream) ?

Praks said:
@cool.aquarian

Did you check out LG DV388 - Has USB & & HDMI , Supports 5.1...
Click to expand...

I was not convinced with the LG DVD Players I saw. I took a USB with movies in various formats. At not even one place could I check which formats can LG play. Everywhere the salesman got confused with the UI and the remote button functions. Philips was easily able to play MPG and DivX6.0 movies on the USB (It could not detect mkv and H264 videos).
 
Yes very much good option to use laptop output to LCD.

But you cant use the laptop until you watch movie & need to use 3.5 MM jack for sound out.

Incase of WDTV, you can have Optical SPDIF.
 
The reason I said LG/Sony tend to suck, coz the LG software is really hard to use and I have had a really bad experience with Sony DVD Drives on PCs.

Plus Pioneers can be loaded with custom firmwares and they read almost any scratched CD/DVD.

I had a Pioneer for around 3-4 years and no issues whatsoever, which cant be said for most others esp LG/Samsung.
 
Updates:
I enquired that Pioneer dont sell DV420 here.
They only sell DV220 (and DV120) model here. The dealer quote I got via phone for DV220 is 4300Rs (comes with HDMI cable and free cordless phone).
Philips 3368 with similar features is 3800, whereas I guess 3388 would be around 4500.

So Pioneer is selling expensive than Philips and only the lower model DV220(lacks WMV,MP4 support and S-Video port) can be bought.

Is the premium for Pioneer worth it?
 
I have got a Philips DVP 5965k. It is great for Divx and Xvid movies. Heck it can even play dual-audio divx encoded avi files.

Lately it's inability to play H264 coded mkv,ogm and mp4 files are getting on my nerves. Also It can't play videos beyond 720x576 resolution.

Most of the anime I have are dual-audio H264 encoded mkv and ogm files. And this really hurts.

Hence I would recommend you to buy a media streamer and not a dvd player at this point of time.

Not to mention no H264 support means no blu-ray rips either.
 
Hi.

Today I bought Philips 3368. Preferred this over Pioneer DV220.

Pioneer DV220V was costing more with very much same features (much due to dealer monopoly and less availability).

Quite Happy with it till now. Picture quality is nice.

Best surprise I got was that it can also display external subtitles with USB Playback.

Thanks for Help.
 
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